Share savings account (ASK)

What is a share savings account?

A share savings account is an account where you can buy and sell shares and mutual funds tax-free. Gains are not taxed, and deductions are not granted as long as the value is kept in the account. You can withdraw (withdrawals) the cost price (invested amount) tax-free at any time. If you withdraw (withdrawals) more than the cost price, the excess less deductible risk-free return is taxed.

Taxable withdrawals made in 2024 are taxed with an effective tax rate set at 37.84 percent.

That means dividend from shares and mutual funds (deposited in your share savings account) are not continuously taxed upon pay-out (applies from and including 2019), but that they are deposited to your share savings account and taxed only when withdrawn from this account. Losses are only deductible when the share savings account is closed (the account is deleted).

You can have as many share savings accounts as you like, either with different providers, or the same provider.

Share savings account can be provided by banks, securities companies and management companies for securities funds.

Transfer of shares to a share savings account

Shares transferred from an ordinary VPS account to a share savings account are considered realised shares, and you must calculate any taxable gains/losses. FIFO (“first in – first out” is the principle that the shares that were purchased first are considered to be sold first) applies in the normal way.

Transfer of shares and mutual funds between share savings accounts (applies from and including 2019)

Losses are only deductible when the share savings account is closed (the account is deletedYou can transfer securities in an ASK account from one share savings account to another without having to pay tax. This applies to both transfers between accounts from the same provider and transfers between accounts from different providers. It also applies to shares that were legal to keep in a share savings account at the time of investment, but that has changed character after the shares were deposited to an ASK account. For example if a company was resident in an EEA state at the time of investment, but relocated to the USA after the share had been deposited to an ASK account.

The transfer must have fiscal continuity. For such transfers, a share of your deposit and unutilised risk-free return from previous years on the paying account is transferred simultaneously to the receiving account. The deposit and unutilised risk-free return is transferred proportionally to the transfer of values from the paying account.

A precondition for transfers with tax continuity is that values and tax positions are allocated correctly to the transferring and receiving account in accordance with the above conditions. This requires that both receiving and transferring providers are involved in the transfer process.

Transferring securities to an heir’s share savings account upon distributing the estate and transferring to the spouse’s share savings account upon divorce

The transfer can be performed without incurring tax. The transfer must have fiscal continuity. For such transfers, a share of your deposit and unutilised risk-free return from previous years on the paying account is transferred simultaneously to the receiving account. The deposit and unutilised risk-free return is transferred proportionally to the values transferred from the paying account.

What kind of securities can you have on a share savings account?

The account can be used to invest in listed shares domiciled in the EEA and units in mutual funds in companies domiciled in the EEA. A mutual fund is a securities fund with a share component exceeding 80 percent at the beginning of the income year.

You can have cash in a share savings account, but interest will not accrue.

What kind of securities can you not have on a share savings account?

You cannot invest in money market funds through your share savings account. Please note that several companies listed on Oslo Stock Exchange are not domiciled in the EEA and therefore do not qualify.

When shares and funds you invested in no longer qualify for being kept in an ASK account

Shares and funds you invested that qualified for being kept in an ASK account at the time of purchase may be kept in an ASK account. This applies even if the company or fund no longer is domiciled in the EEA or if the share component is less than the required percentage.

Example 1:

Part A buys shares in company B, who at the time of purchase is a Norwegian company. The company then relocates to the USA. In such a case, the share does not have to be taken out of the ASK account, and it does not mean that the share is realised. When the share is realised, gains/losses are treated as if it still was a company within the EEA for this shareholder.

Example 2:

Part A buys shares in a securities fund in 2020 when the share component is 89 percent. At the start of 2021, the fund composition has changed and the share component is 0 percent. Part A can still keep the units in the ASK account, and upon realisation/distributions these amounts are taxed in the same way as shares in a mutual fund.

Example 3:

Part A buys shares in a listed company and keep them in an ASK account. The company is later unlisted. Part A can still move these shares to another share savings account that he owns without triggering taxation since the shares were listed at the time of investment, see section 10-21, subsection 7, of the Taxation Act.

Example 4:

A has shares in a share savings account. The company carries out an equal partition demerger where the company divests parts of its enterprise to a new unlisted company and the ownership remains the same in the acquired and acquiring company.

The shareholders that have shares in the acquired company placed in a share savings account (ASK) can also place any consideration shares received upon the demerger at this account. This applies even if the consideration shares are unlisted. The shares (in the acquiring company) were legally placed in a share savings account at the time of investment, and the consideration shares received upon the demerger springs from the ownership in the company that’s registered in the share savings account. It’s a precondition that the demerger is carried out with continuity for tax purposes and is considered a tax-free demerger.

Asset dividends that cannot be kept in the share savings account

Dividend from shares legally kept in share savings accounts may be distributed in the form of assets that cannot be kept in the share savings account. This could for instance be dividends in the form of shares in a company domiciled outside of the EEA. These assets must be withdrawn immediately from the share savings account. The assets are taxed in accordance with the rules concerning withdrawals from share savings accounts. The same applies if you receive illegal shares in the form of repayment of paid-up equity.

When withdrawing the assets from the account, use the value of the asset as of the distribution date.

Deduction for risk-free return on a share savings account

The deduction for risk-free return is a deduction that reduces your taxable share income (read more about this deduction at skatteetaten.no under “the shareholder model”). The deduction is determined by multiplying the basis for the deduction for risk-free return by a risk-free interest rate.

For shares/units in a share savings account, the basis for risk-free return is based on the account holder’s deposits in the account. That means the sum of deposited cash, shares and units in mutual funds. This is considered a simplification in comparison to the rules for risk-free return applicable to shares not deposited in a share savings account. For securities kept in a share savings account, it’s not necessary to calculate the risk-free return on each share/unit, or keep track of FIFO (the principle that the shares that were purchased first are considered to be sold first).

The determined deduction for risk-free return can be deducted both from taxable withdrawals and from taxable dividend distributions made before 2019.

During the income year, many deposits to and withdrawals from the account may occur. The basis for risk-free return is set to the lowest deposit balance in the account during the year, plus unused deduction for risk-free return for previous years.

When you open a share savings account, it can be challenging to transfer funds, shares and cash simultaneously. Here, some discretion will be shown so that there is room to see these transfers in context if there is a short time between the transfers and the orders for transfers. 

Withdrawals from the share savings account

When shares/units are transferred from the share savings account to the account holder, this is considered as a withdrawal from the account. The withdrawal is set to the market value of the share/unit at the time of transfer. The withdrawal is not taxed until the amount exceeds the amount you deposited (total cost price) to the account. Withdrawals reduce the basis for risk-free return.

Taxed dividends deposited directly to the share savings account (only applicable to distribution of dividends from 2017 and 2018)

Such dividends distributed in 2017 and 2018 deposited into the share savings account, are treated as deposits and will increase the basis for risk-free return.

Transitional rules for 2017, 2018 and 2019

The transfers of shares/units from the account holder to the share savings account, are taxed as if the share/unit is realised (sold). This is fully applicable from 2020 onwards. The shareholder is taxed for gains and gets a deduction for losses. The transfer is considered a deposit into the account. The size of the deposit is set to the value of the share/unit that is the basis for calculating gain/loss.

To ease the transition to the share savings account scheme, transitional rules were determined for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The transitional rules for these years made it possible to transfer shares and units in mutual funds with fiscal continuity without realisation taxation.  

Reporting on the tax return

The provider of the share savings account is responsible for reporting the tax values of the share savings account. Tax liable withdrawals and assets should be pre-filled in your tax return. You must check that the pre-filled information is complete and correct.